Hill Heat

As Wall Street and Washington pick up the pieces from a broken financial sector, and families across the Gulf Coast assess the damage from multiple hurricanes, America is asking: how do we recover? How can we strengthen and stimulate our economy, protect our environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil?

Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will explore the substantial role clean energy and climate-friendly policies should play in any economic stimulus and recovery plan. Several reports, including a recent study by the University of Massachusetts and Center for American Progress, say that investments in clean energy, energy efficiency and green buildings could create millions of jobs in America, including hundreds of thousands in the construction sector.

• Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
• Dr. Robert Pollin, Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
• Fred Redmond, Vice President, United Steelworkers
• Byron Kennard, Executive Director, Center for Small Business and the Environment
• Dr. Margo Thorning, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, American Council for Capital Formation